U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Wednesday as Wall Street sifts through the latest batch of quarterly corporate results.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials improved 16 points, or 0.1%, to 27,344.
Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 1.75 points, or 0.1%, at 3,008.75
NASDAQ futures gained 11.25 points, or 0.1%, to 7,954
Bank of America reported better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, driven by the strength of its retail banking operation.
CSX, meanwhile, posted weaker-than-forecast quarterly results. The company also said it expects full-year revenue to fall between 1% and 2%.
United Airlines reported earnings and revenue that topped analyst expectations and increased its share buyback program by $3 billion.
Cintas shares jumped more than 4% after the First Aid kit maker’s results beat expectations.
More than 7% of S&P 500 companies have reported second-quarter earnings thus far. Of those companies, about 85% have posted profits that beat analyst expectations. The reported earnings growth of those companies is about 3.1%.
Investors came into the earnings season with a bleak outlook on corporate profits. Analysts expected S&P 500 earnings to have fallen by 3% in the second quarter
President Trump on Tuesday said the world’s two largest economies have a “long way to go” on trade, and suggested that the U.S. could impose sanctions on an additional $325 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index skidded 0.3%, while in the Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index docked 0.1%,
Oil prices gathered 59 cents to $58.21 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $5.50 to $1,405.70 U.S. an ounce.
